Home
is where the heart is...
Home is where you are…
Home is where love
resides…
Where
are you most at home - Your dinner
table, Grandma’s house, a Hotel on vacation, outside, inside? For each of us,
it can be different. Psalm 90 verse 1 tells us God has been our dwelling place
for all generations. The Bible mentions many different places God provides the
things we associate with home – shelter, safety, love:
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; Proverbs 18:10
He will shelter you with his wings; you will find
safety under his wings. Psalm 91:4
Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my
soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge
Until destruction passes by. Psalm 57:1
God has shown himself
faithful and we certainly trust Him to make a dwelling place for us that meets
our needs, our wants, and makes us feel at home with Him. But where do we provide for God to dwell? King David was known as a “Man after God’s own
heart” Acts 13:22. Surely he would know how to build a home for God,
right?
Back in 2009 I read an article that commented on making a habitation for God. The author also related King David’s passion for seeking God as an example for us to follow. David wrote 77 of the psalms and many of them document David’s striving to spend time with God. In Psalms 132 David’s son Solomon even reminds God of his father’s devotion; as David vowed to put everything aside, including eating or sleeping, until this house for God is completed.
When I thought of this
theme today I was reminded of a commercial I recently saw about traveling in a
new way. Not just going somewhere but living in the community during your stay.
The company is Air-bnb. Here is their tag line:
 |
|
“A house is a space to be.
A home is a place to
belong”
Brian
Chesky, Ceo Airbnb.
|
When you
stay in an Airbnb,
you get more
than a home.
You get more
than a city.
You get a
neighborhood.
The local
coffee shop is yours, too.
Wherever you
go, you get to feel like you.
Don’t Go
There. Live There. (#LiveThere)
This is a great way to
think about us building a home for God in our lives. He shouldn’t just be allowed
in the tourist part of our lives, but He should come to live there. We are
already made to be a temple for His Holy Spirit. We know he wants to be at home
with us, He is our family. Can he also
be our friend? Will we take the time and energy to entertain Him in our home,
as we might for a stranger or guest?
The hosts in the Airbnb
program have stories of so much life enrichment from spending time with the
people they host. How much more will our lives be enriched if it was God living
here? His needs are simple. Jesus
reminds us what it takes to prepare, “He who loves me will keep my words,
and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and dwell with him.”
John 14:23.
The home we provide doesn’t
have to include brick and mortar either. In fact, that wouldn’t satisfy Him… "The God who made the world and all
things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples
made with hands; And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.
Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” Acts 17:24-25.
He provides everything we
need to build a home for Him. The only thing that is needed is an invitation and
a willingness to spend time with Him. For God, home it’s just one place… you!
Solomon's Prayer/Our Prayer
"The house which I
am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods. But
who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens
cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to
burn incense before Him? Now therefore, O God of Israel, let Your word, I pray,
be confirmed which You have spoken to Your servant, my father David. Have
regard to the prayer of Your servant and to my supplication, O LORD my God, to
listen to the cry and to the prayer which I, as your servant, prays before You
today.” From 1 Kings 8 2 Chronicles 2
Click here to see the CEO of Airbnb describe his
company. https://youtu.be/nMITXMrrVQU
